Speed Zone

I received a question about the tempo trainer and thought other people may be interested: I use the tempo trainer quite a bit - and I think it's one of the best tools out there for all swimmers -- but you have to do some work prior to using it. Thanks for starting this thread and the advice so far. As a former distance swimmer determined to have some fun this SCY season sprinting, this is great. I've been told about the tempo timer and encouraged by one coach to get it. This might be the first "toy" I invest in. I've generally done well via stroke length, but never really focused on stroke rate. Mind you, while I do want to get more competitive in the 50/100, my longer term goal is still to be a faster mid-distance swimmer (200/500), but, for me to reach my goal times in those events, I figure I need to get "easy speed" for the first half of the race much more built into my muscle memory. One question for Erik: are you using the tempo timer throughout workout or only on your speed sets?

One question for Erik: are you using the tempo timer throughout workout or only on your speed sets? I only use the tempo trainer during sets that I want to work on stroke rate. For me - that is sprint sets at the moment. However, if you want to lengthen your stroke in longer sets - you can use it during an aerobic main set. I know all about the limitations of a faster 200 / 500, because of "sprint problems".

Where do you start to improve speed ? There is a lot of stuff out there you can utilize to increase your maximum speed. On land you can do basic dryland training all the way to advanced weight training. In the water, you can add parachutes, tennis shoes, t-shirts, fins, paddles, and power racks. You can work with a tempo trainer, increase foot speed / hand speed; use cordz to pull you or to swim against. That does not even list any specific sets. Here is a good starting point for all Speed Training - if you do nothing else: Twice a week after a good warm-up but BEFORE any other main set ---- 6-8 all out sprints of 10-25 yards. You need at least 60-90 seconds rest - you should feel fresh prior to each sprint. Take your time -- focus on something in your stroke -- if you have a coach to time you, that is great -- if not, you should still do the work. What if I swim with a team and they don't do this in the workout ? Option A - if it is a public pool, come 30 minutes early (remember - you can not do this after the workout) - warm-up and do the sprints. Option B - go to the end of your lane and do this during a regular set (let's say the set is 8x100 - do it during the first 15 yards of each 100). Let the coach know what you are doing - and don't get in the way of your lane mates. I spend a lot of time at the end of my lane.

PWB, how's that USA-S registration thing going? If sprinting you want - you shall receive! Look up the Lost Dutchman meet. They offer the 4 50's, I think. It's right there at Cactus something or other pool in Chandler. Not too much of an investment of traveling plus I recommend blowing off finals. It's usually some time in mid Feb, so very complementary with USMS schedule. You could do this meet like a fast workout! Michelle, I haven't registered yet, but am contemplating a couple of events next spring/summer: Grand Prix in Austin -- I gotta see if I can swing a business trip to Austin around this time and squeeze in an event or two. Swimming World Cactus Classic LCM over Memorial Day @ ASU -- I'm going to post the meet flyer soon to the events forum to try to get some Masters' folks here, especially all of those guys who are bemoaning the loss of mens' college swimming. The meet directors / teams are working on arranging part of each entry fee to be donated to the foundation to save ASU Men's swimming. He's "resting up" after Zones even though the lazy sprinters are back in the pool. I'd rather think of it that my years of exceedingly exhausting distance workouts have left me with a "vacation deficit" that desperately needs to be balanced. Don't worry, though, am hitting weights/core on Monday and back in the pool on Tuesday.

Legs and speed are intertwined in the 50, 100 and 200 races, I am looking for suggestions on how to train your legs for speed in the longer distances?

I've written alot about this topic Done a lot of speed training If you REALLY want to improve your speed here's the areas to work on 1) Technique: there's an optimal way to position and move your body to go the fastest through the water start, dive, streamline SDK break out swimming turns touch in a 50 free how much time do you spend doing the start dive & SDK? how much distance do you cover? how much time of each practice do you spend working on your start dive & SDK? 2) Swimming most swimming programs don't focus on developing maximum speed Really work to improve how fast you can swim and SDK 3) Body Characteristics shape: fast swimmers tend to be lean and powerful strength: stronger swimmers are faster flexibility 4. Equipment now more than ever the equipment you use matters. Swimmers need to test out different suits to figure out what works best 5. Mental goals plans action self image IPS = Ideal Performance State, being psyched mental toughness, pain tolerance correct splitting / effort allocation 1st & 2nd 25's of a 50 should be with in 0.25 - 0.50 for me to swim faster I need to: 1) get stronger 2) lose 15 - 25 lbs & 3) swim faster in practice & 4) Correctly split my races Amaury Leveaux's WR SCM 50m FR vinovo.magnify.net/.../Amaury-Leveaux-World-Record-50m Milorad Cavic's 100 fl outstanding SDK vinovo.magnify.net/.../Milorad-Cavic-Gold-medal-100m-b Amaury LEVEAUX's 44.94 - New World Record www.youtube.com/watch think about how much time and distance in a 50 free is spent on Start, Dive, Streamline & SDK vs swimming freestyle How much of your training is spent working on those skills?

Erik, Outstanding article. I've got 15 months till I age up and I'm thinking of making this the basis for my training beginning in Jan. I've already calculated the speeds I'll need to attain in practice for my various events. I figure 100 efforts for 50's and 100 for 100's is the equivilant to about 2 efforts a week for each distance (100 / 52 weeks). enjoy your vacation. Rich

Thanks Ande - Great tips. I am going on a vacation for 2 weeks - but here is my "end of the year" sprinting advice. Actually, I am taking this from one of our sprint heroes - Alxander Popov. While we are Masters swimmers and of course can not reach the volume mentioned in this article -- we can add the philosphy "Athletes must be able to swim fast anytime, any place, and under any condition" Importance of Competition/Race Experience One of Touretski’s core philosophies is that race velocity swimming and competition experience is crucial for elite athlete development. He feels that this stimulus is important for physical development, skill development, and psychological development. Athletes must be able to swim fast anytime, any place, and under any condition and that translates into consistency in their competitive performances. He emphasized several times that the training plan must include the correct amount of race rehearsal swims, and should be designed around the competition schedule not vice versa. The number of “starts” is tracked for each athlete during a season. A “start” is considered an off the blocks effort that is performed within 4% of the athletes goal time. It is not always performed under competitive conditions (approximately one third are not). He also incorporates an intense 10-day competition microcycle into training cycles, during which there are several “starts” in each practice session. The athletes also are required to compete in numerous events at the competitions the team attends (sometimes more than 15 starts a weekend). The key to Touretski’s interest in this component of training seemed to be research done in Russia on the training loads of track athletes. In this study they found that the most successful track sprinters in the world carried a competitive volume of 64,000 meters (between 1-4% of max velocity) a year. This lead him to convert the distance to a relative volume for swimmers (divided 64k by 4-swimming races take approximately 4 times as long for a similar distance) and come up with a target volume of 16,000 meters of race performance for sprinters each year. The goal is 100, 100 meter starts, and 100, 50 meter starts for Popov. They have attained this level two of the last three years. This was an area that Touretski pointed out the weakness of our college swimming as related to International competition. He pointed out that when Popov steps on the blocks at the Olympic for the 100 meter freestyle he will have 90+ starts in that event over the last 12 months at that relative performance level while the top American swimmers will likely have less than 10 starts at that level, and less then 20 total. The microcycle focusing on competition (see Appendix**) is 10 days long alternating 3 days on and 1 day off. The training is all race intensity usually beginning practice with a 600 warm-up followed by 1 dive effort then switching to pace work and broken swims.

Erik - Very interesting. Since I started swimming again 18 months ago, I have focused relatively more on speed/lactate sets than aerobic condition (I came out of Cal in the mid 1980s and so still have occasional flashbacks to days of 20,000+ meters). Would you say that high quality sets such as 6x 50m on 2:00, or 4-6x 100 on 4-5:00 at max effort, would qualify? Or should the rep's be fewer (perhaps only 1 or 2) and the rest longer?

Thanks Erik and Rich, Actually swimming the event you plan to race in your focus meet makes total sense. We become what we do. We want our bodies to adapt to the stress of racing. We want to train to race. Most people and programs train to train. Plus you have plenty of time and chances to experiment with variious SDKs, breathing and splitting to figure out what works best Erik, Outstanding article. I've got 15 months till I age up and I'm thinking of making this the basis for my training beginning in Jan. I've already calculated the speeds I'll need to attain in practice for my various events. I figure 100 efforts for 50's and 100 for 100's is the equivilant to about 2 efforts a week for each distance (100 / 52 weeks). enjoy your vacation. Rich